GoPro Hero4 Silver

This GoPro is expensive and worth every penny. I bought this camera to use as a dash cam and I'm blown away by its capabilities. The GoPro can be used for any purpose one can imagine and there are mounts for every purpose as well. Many of the excellent YouTube videos are produced by a GoPro. The mechanical engineering of this piece is exceptional and extends to the mounts included with the original purchase. There are more settings at this time than I can remember but the simple basic settings and the defaults produce excellent, sharp, clear and colorful videos of whatever the camera is aimed at. Night photos are also excellent.I purchased the GoPro 4 Silver because it has the viewing screen at the back which makes it simple to aim the camera perfectly to get the best views of the road traveled. This rear screen is especially nice when initially setting up the camera on a permanent adhesive mount most often stuck to the front window in the center to one side of the rear view mirror. The rear screen makes it easy to mount the adhesive in the perfect position on the first try. I spent a few days getting up the courage to finally mount the GoPro PERMANENTLY ON MY FRONT WINDSHIELD using the very permanent 3M mount (supposedly easily removed by heating it up first). I've never mounted anything permanently to my front windshield and even had a hard time adding cup holders to a car that didn't come with them. My fear was unfounded because the rear screen made it easy as pie to position and aim the camera and mark the exact spot that gave me the best view of the road in front, keeping in mind I'd have to remove the camera whenever I left the car. No problem here.The GoPro 4 Black is an extra $100 for a few more setting details but then you have to buy a separate rear LCD screen for another $100 or so if you want the same capability for ease of installation if you want to use your GoPro as a Dash Cam. I picked the GoPro Silver from the beginning because I called the company and asked them which camera they recommended for use as a Dash Cam. When I called I knew NOTHING about dash cams or about GoPros.When the GoPro arrived I was unable to "unbox" the camera until I read the instructions and watched an instructional video on YouTube, titled "unboxing your new GoPro - for beginners". I say this to emphasize that this was my first experience with a Dash Cam. I never saw a GoPro up close until mine arrived. Without instructions I'd still have the GoPro boxed up. The attachments and means of attaching the GoPro were different from anything I was familiar with but it all makes perfect sense and ends up easier than most familiar attachments once you see it for the first time.I decided to go with this most expensive Dash Cam (except for the GoPro Hero 4 Black) because I never saw a bad video taken with a GoPro. I'm thrilled I made this decision because everything about the GoPro is exceptional. The GoPro Hero 4 Silver camera has some of the best engineering I've seen on any electronics product I've purchased over many years, including digital cameras and computers. The quality of materials is also superior. With all the exceptional features and capabilities, this camera is easy to set up and use. It is a simple camera and it does what it claims to do and does it exceptionally well.Once I got myself to take the step of a permanent front windshield mounting, I was set up and ready to go. All I need to do is press the button to start the video and remember to remove the camera once I've arrived at my destination. The quick mounts and disconnects make this simple.The GoPro is suggested as a Dash Cam only for users who already own one because there are Dash Cams selling for $29.95, making the GoPro 10x as expensive. This is bad advice! Once a person buys a GoPro it's only a matter of time before other uses for this camera show up. The GoPro is so exceptional it can be easily used to memorialize any activity one is accustomed to performing.The GoPro photos and videos are so excellent a person is encouraged to find new uses for the GoPro all the time. All that's necessary is the purchase of a specialized mount. Many mounts can be used for multiple purposes. For instance, I may want to mount my GoPro on a headrest. I found the mount used to attach a GoPro to one's head, hat or helmet is perfect for attaching to my headrest. This is a great place to mount a camera to watch out the rear window if one wants full coverage. I'm thinking of buying a second GoPro for this, but first I have to save up many pennies. This is what happens when one has the capability to take excellent quality videos and photos with little effort.If you are thinking of buying your first Dash Cam, I suggest going with the best. Spend the money and buy a GoPro. You will be inspired to find many other uses for this marvelous little camera once you see how easy it is to use to take perfect photos and videos.

Decided on the Hero 4 Silver based on not really having the need to shoot/view in 4k and the built-in rear lcd display helps a lot with aiming. I jumped on the Cyber Monday deal with Amazon's GoPro Hero 4 Silver bundle. I'm really impressed with the photo/video quality of the Hero 4 Silver! In looking at the evolution of the GoPro Hero's previous versions, I'm glad I waited for all the technology upgrades that the Hero 4 Silver has. It takes some time to learns all the camera's functions, so be patient.Before buying, I spent a good amount of time doing my research on the operation features, faq's, common issues/problems, and the most beneficial GoPro accessories. Doing your homework really would seem to answer/solve a lot of common issues that most people have encountered. An issue that I came across with the GoPro's wifi feature had trouble connecting to a smartphone/tablet via GoPro app. This was mainly due to the smartphone/tablet already connected to a different wifi signal, so the device could not also connect to the GoPro's wifi signal. So just be sure your smartphone/tablet with the GoPro app is disconnected/forgotten any previous wifi signal before connecting to the GoPro's wifi signal.Before purchasing a GoPro, realize that you will need to purchase several additional GoPro accessories to get the most out of your camera. But that doesn't mean you need to buy every single accessory on the market. Slowly build up your accessory collection, only initially purchase the accessories that you will get the most use out of and are best suited for your particular applications. For me, I bought an aluminum GoPro adjustable telescoping pole, anti-fog inserts, aftermarket extra batteries with charger (everyone should buy this along with the camera!), and a red lens filter at the same time I bought the camera for a scuba trip to the Caribbean. Also realize that your accessories don't all have to be GoPro brand. There are hundreds of GoPro accessory companies, take your time to do a little research and read some reviews. Sometimes the aftermarket accessories outperform the OEM ones.I've had my camera since December 2014 and have not encountered a single technical issue that some have stated they have encountered. The GoPro firmware update released in February 2015 added Burst Mode / Timelapse functions, which are pretty cool. GoPro also stated that the updates also fixed several bugs/issues that people were experiencing. So just like a smartphone or tablet, make sure you keep your camera updated with the latest firmware offered.I don't own a laptop, so utilizing the GoPro Studio editing software is out of the question while on the go. To work around this issue, I read some articles about user using the Apple iMovie app on an Apple device to make movies. I won an iPad Mini from an message forum that I'm a member of, so I decided to go that route. This required me to purchase the Apple Lightning to SD Card Reader device. So I shoot my video, take out the microSD card from my camera, slide it into the SD Card adapter that came with the microSD card, then insert it into the Apple Lightning to SD Card Reader device, and finally plug the device into my iPad Mini. Within seconds, the videos on the card will automatically be recognized and you choose which ones you want to upload. Once that is complete, you open the iMovie app, choose the order of the videos, clip/snip/shorten the videos, and do other editing functions. While this method doesn't have all the features that the GoPro Studio editing software offers, this a great on-the-go way to compile your videos, perform some basic editing, produce complete movies, and have the ability to upload the movies to Facebook, YouTube, etc. when the iPad mini is connected to the Internet via wifi.I'm using the GoPro Hero 4 Silver as an excuse to further my traveling experiences. I look forward to furthering my recent first-time experience in SCUBA Diving, traveling to Norway to see The Northern Lights, and heading to South Africa to cage dive with the Great White Sharks!I definitely recommend the GoPro Hero 4 Silver!!!